Sunday, June 26, 2016

National Canoe Day 2016

What better place to be on National Canoe Day than in a canoe. We decided to head to Peterborough to participate in the Trent Severn Lock 'n Paddle event. Parks Canada wanted to see how many canoes and kayaks they could squeeze into the Peterborough Lift Lock. The lock is the highest hydraulic lock in the world, rising (or falling) a total of 19.8 metres. The previous record was 101 boats.

We decided to put in at Roger's Cove which is a very short paddle from lock 20 (one lock downstream from the Lift Lock). Roger's Cove is a beautiful park overlooking Little Lake. The park has some great play structures, a splash pad, picnic tables, a nice beach and a portion of paved Trans Canada Trail running through it. Our goal for the day was to participate in the Lock 'n Paddle but also to make sure the kids had fun for the rest of the day. This was the perfect spot to start and finish. I could see us coming back to explore more by canoe or possibly by bike.

We arrived and had lunch in the park then loaded up the canoe for the short but adventure filled paddle.

Water Fountain on Little Lake

The paddle to our first lock took less than five minutes. The lock masters wanted to lock as many canoes and kayaks together so we waited at the lock for quite some time.

Tour boat Coming Through the Locks as we Waited

Lock 20 Ashburnham Loaded With 60-75 boats

Lock on its Way Down

Loading the Lock

Long Way Up

Boat Count

Loving It!

In all there were 138 boats that made the trip up in the lock, with another 15 boats that went up on the next trip.

We had an uneventful trip back down to Roger's Cove (if such a thing is possible when surrounded by dozens of other boats). We packed up all of our gear then the kids played at the splash pad and park.